Description

The brief but detailed booklet presented here gives an overview of the work of Russian Orthodox Church missionaries in Siberia, beginning with the “opening of Siberia” by Russians in 1581. It goes on to describe the efforts of various missionaries and mission groups to Christianize the native people of western Siberia, who were primarily Buddhist and pagan. The missionaries also worked with “schismatics” or Old Believers―Orthodox Christians who adhered to a form of religious practice banned in the reforms instituted during the reign of Peter the Great. The booklet ...